Stories about Feature from September, 2008
Blogging Since Infancy: Transforming Uruguay
Ever since the Uruguay government had started to implement the Ceibal project, with the goal of providing one free XO laptop to every public school student, a transformation has began. The children of Uruguay who are receiving these XO laptops are embracing them as a part of their lives.
South African Seniors Speak: Age Demands Action
Elders, traditionally revered as society's storytellers, have been largely excluded from the benefits of social media and online publishing. Today 600 million people are over the age of 60, and by 2025 this figure is expected to double. Using blogs, the Muthande Society for the Aged in Durban, South Africa is ensuring that elders can advocate for their own rights in today's media ecology.
Rising Voices Blog Carnival: Celebration in Communities
We present to you the first Rising Voices Blog Carnival. We requested articles from different Rising Voices grantees communities. The topic is "What is the biggest celebration in your community each year?"
FOKO Puts Madagascar on the Map
Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, is much more than a Disney movie. By training Malagasy bloggers how to publish online and interact with the wider world of Web 2.0, Foko is helping put Madagascar on the map.
Creativity Leads to Sustainability
Rising Voices microgrants provide citizen media training projects in the developing world with just enough funding to get off the ground. Many of these projects, however, have become so successful that they are now attracting the interest of more local community members who want to learn how to communicate effectively online. In order to continue their training workshops and outreach activities, they have had to come up with creative strategies for financial sustainability.
REPACTED: Challenging the digital divide
Many REPACTED members have their own blogs now but they can rarely update because of costly Internet connection. They have produced videos and images of their magnet theater production aimed at behavioral change in marginal societies in Kenya but cannot upload in their blogs because of slow Internet connection. Read about their challenges and dreams.
Rising Voices at Interdependence Day in Brussels
The sixth annual Interdependence Day in Brussels brought about 20 youth from around the world to discuss issues of global interconnectedness and interdependence. Rahool Goswami from the Neighbourhood Diaries project in India and Patricia Rakotomalala from Foko Project in Kolkata represented Rising Voices at the four-day forum.
Breaking the Silence: HIV/AIDS in Kwa Mashu
The Kwa Mashu Community Advancement Project (K-CAP), outside of Durban, South Africa, will be training 15 to 20 youth from their township in the upcoming months to become citizen journalists reporting on local health issues, particularly those related to HIV/AIDS. Through sharing their own stories, the youth K-CAP train will gain new technical skills, while hopefully helping to counter the severe stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and lower HIV rates in Kwa Mashu.
HiperBarrio and ConVerGentes: For the community
Remember Suso? The plights of the garbage collector in San Javier La Loma in Medellín was brought to the community's attention by the citizen journalists of the Rising Voices grantee in Colombia. Now he lives in a new house built by the community. Read about this and more updates.
Voces Bolivianas: A year of success
Voces Bolivianas project started citizen media workshops in the city of El Alto in Bolivia in September 2007. Since then its blog outreach workshops spread out and covered almost two third of the country and had a lot of success. Through use of blogs many people of Bolivia, especially some of the indigenous population now have their voices to tell their stories to the world and fight discrimination.
Nari Jibon: Using Blogs to Give Bangladeshi Women New Skills
The words "Nari Jibon" should be familiar to regular Rising Voices readers. The Dhaka-based project which has integrated blogging and citizen media into its English and computer classes has been covered frequently on Rising Voices in the past. In this video, we hear directly from the students and staff to get to know the individuals behind the blogs.
